Our new life
by Scarath0nia
Summary: After the rebellion is over, Peeta and Katnisss have had their first child and soon find out Katniss is pregnant with their second. An unexpected visitor shows up with some 'news' taking them to the Capitol. After going to the Capitol again and having their second child what will become of Katniss and Peeta's lives with their two children? Please review, it's my first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

I wake up with Peeta's arms around me. Being careful not to wake him I lift my head to look at the clock, it seven am, we have to get up to take Rue to school. Rue is our only child she is six and has just started school. We named her after 'Rue' the young girl who was my ally for a short time in my first hunger games, but I don't have to worry about my daughter going into the hunger games like Peeta and I did, there are no more hunger games.

"Peeta," I say softly shaking his arm "Peeta."

His blue eye's flit open and look straight into mine "Yeah?"

"We have to take Rue to school now," he looks confused "Remember you promised you would come today."

"Oh right, ok" He puts his hand on my cheek and pulls me down for a kiss.

I flick the blanket off the both of us and quickly get changed into my usual trousers; t-shirt and my hunting jacket, which I now were out in the open. I turn to make the bed and find Peeta still in it I grab the face washer that stays in our bathroom and slap his bare chest with it.

"HEY!" he exclaims.

"I told you to get up" I smirk.

Before he can answer I walk down the hall of my home, which still resides in the victor's village, to Rue's bedroom. Once I reach her bed I shake her shoulder to wake her, she looks so peaceful when she sleeps.

"Rue, wake up sweetie, you have school"

Unlike Peeta she wakes as soon as I speak.

"Ok mum, what should I wear to school today?"

I simply tell her to wear the soft blue dress with the red ribbon on it, she loves the idea.

When I reach the kitchen Peeta is already there making us all breakfast, cheese rolls, bacon and eggs. I grab one of the steaming rolls and have a flash back of one of my nights in the capitol before the revolution that made us a united country; it was a night when I ate lamb stew, my favourite capitol dish.

"What do you want miss?" Peeta's voice brings me back to reality as it always does.

"No eggs today please, please, please." Rue begs

Peeta looks at me as if say _no eggs for Rue today?_

"Ok, no eggs" I say

"YAY" She giggles wildly.

We eat our breakfast quickly because Rue wants to show us around the school, I suppose she forgot, again, that Peeta and I went to the very same school.

"Ok let's go, Peeta, hurry up we're leaving" I shout to him from the other room.

"Comi-"His voice cuts off; he is having a trackerjacker attack.

"Stay here Rue dad's having one of his 'moment's'"

I run round the corner and up the hall to Peeta. I put my hands on Peeta's face, trying to drag him out of his attack, his knuckles are white and his teeth clenched.

"Peeta" I plead, ready to try and hold in my tears, I close my eyes to concentrate, when I open them he is out of it.

"I'm ok" he tells me "I'm ok"

We walk back to Rue hand in hand, like nothing has happened, we don't want her to know how much it hurts him to go through this, not yet anyway. We also don't want her knowing why I will wake up in the middle of the night screaming and thrashing about.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Peeta asks Rue, picking her up in one arm while still holding firmly to my hand.

Once we reach the school, Rue takes us to her favourite place to play. Peeta and I look at each other with astonishment, it's that same place where I picked the first dandelion of the season, the one that gave me hope for my family, my mother; Prim…. Peeta must remember it too.

"Mum, Dad what's wrong?" Rue asks us in her small soft voice

" We just; remember something special about this place that's all, now hurry up, I want to meet your teacher" Then Peeta turns to me " Have you met her Katniss?"

"No Peeta, I was going to speak to her but bunches of other mum's were crowding around her I was going to the next day but, I never got around to it."

"Oh well, what's her name then?"

"Not sure, Rue?"

"It's Ms Cartwright."

Cartwright, were have I heard that? I look over to Peeta, who like me seems to know this name, then just as I reach the same conclusion he say's "Delly"

We step into the class room and the smell of fresh paint and paper hits me like a brick wall. Rue skips over to a woman bent enthusiastically over her work "Ms Cartwright"

"Yes" she say's vaguely "Oh, Rue how are you?"

"I'm good, my mum and dad want to meet you" she walks over to us and grabs my hand leading us over to her teacher "this is my mum, Katniss, and this is my dad Peeta."

"Katniss? Peeta?"

"Hey, Delly." Peeta says with a huge smile.

"This is your daughter" she gestures to Rue.  
"Yes" says Peeta

Then she pieces it together "Her name is Rue, like the girl who was in… who was your ally?"

"Yes, and Rue knows about her name sake and how we knew her it's ok to say it around her" I tell her.

"I can't believe it Peeta, you have a daughter!"

"Yeah, but, no offence or anything, you didn't figure she was ours, being called Rue Mellark?"

"I never really thought it through." She admits

"So you're married then, for real this time?" Delly questions

Peeta begins to answer when I butt in "Yes, for real this time and I'm very happy about that. Now stop asking questions, it's our turn" I then continue "So heard anything from any of our old friends?"

She bubbles up a lot at that question "Gale is coming to 12 today, in fact," she checks her watch "he should be here any minute"

No, Gale does not know that I married Peeta and does not know I had a child with him, let alone a six year old child. This is going to be awkward.

Peeta has a day off work today and we just want to stay home. I've been curious about something, I feel different to how I normally feel, and I feel like I did when I was pregnant with Rue. I'm going to tell Peeta when he is about to go shopping so he can by a pregnancy tester for me. We have very unique ones that are from the capitol they can tell what gender the baby will be, none have ever been wrong. Peeta sits down at the table.

"Peeta" I say "Are you going to the market?"

"If you need me too sure"

" Well it's just I don't feel like myself" His face turns a slight shade lighter, probably thinking something's wrong with me " I feel like I did when I was pregnant with Rue; Peeta I think I'm pregnant."

"What?" Is all he can manage

"I think we might be having another child." I smile happily

"Well it would make sense; you've been eating a lot of cheese buns of recent"

"I hadn't even considered that, but now you mention it, it's yet another good indication that I'm pregnant"

"So you want me to by a tester? Right." He asks, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Yes" I reply

"Why don't you come with me? The whole idea of my taking a day off was so we could spend the day together."

"Ok, we'll leave now; I want to find out as soon as possible"

"I really hope we're having another baby!" He says trying; I think to hide his excitement.

Just as Peeta opens the door Gales hand swipes past his face, he was just about to knock on the door.

"Peeta?"

"Gale."

"Why are you here, with Katniss?"

Peeta gives me a murderous look.

"Gale" I say "I never got around to telling you, the good news, I feel bad it has taken so long. Peeta and I are married."

"Married?" He seems unconvinced, I don't know why

"Yes, Gale we're married and have been for six and a half years" Peeta says coldly

"We have a daughter" I add "Her name is Rue"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks

"I never got around to it, I'm sorry"

"FINE" Gale retorts arrogantly

"Don't you dare talk to my wife like that Gale" Peeta demands harshly, though I must admit it makes me feel wonderful, that he stands up for me even against my best friend.

"Look we were going out, you can join us if you like" I say walking past him and pulling Peeta with me.

"Really? I just acted like a pig and you're inviting me along with you?"

"Yes, Gale that's what friends are for." I say with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ok" is all he say's and after closing the door follows us into the town square.

"Should we tell him what we are getting?" Peeta whispers to me.

"It's probably a good idea." I whisper back.

"Gale, I thought you may want to know what we're getting"

"What" he hesitates" Catnip?"

"Well Katniss thinks she might be pregnant again, so we're getting a pregnancy tester" Peeta announces to Gale.

"Oh"

We continue to walk in silence; all you can hear is other people going about their day, the wind howling through the trees and our feet crunching along the gravel footpath. Once we get to the market and walk up to the women's health desk Peeta wraps his arm around my waist and we ask for a pregnancy test. The fresh looking young woman asks me if I know how to use one.

"Yes, I've had a child and, well using that is how I found out about her" I reply.

"Arighty, then." She asks us to pay and of course we do.

I feel like running home to find out and I probably would if Gale wasn't with us. The walk home is as silent as the walk to town and seems to take ten times longer. When we are two houses away I can't wait anymore I drop Peeta's hand a run for the door with the test in hand. I open the door and as I do Peeta and Gale have both caught up with me.

"I'm going to go test it now" I tell Peeta and give him a quick kiss.

I walk as fast as I dare down the hallway and up the stairs. I push open the bathroom door and take the test. I wait the whole half minute necessary and when it beeps I look down. The stick reads:

Yes-boy

I'm having a baby boy! I race down the stairs and run smack into Gale, my smile fades at the awkward moment and I squeeze past him and take the one step needed to get to Peeta. My smile returns and I show him. He smiles wider than I do and his eyes are filled with joy.

"We're having a baby boy!" He exclaims.

When Rue gets home from school I'm surprised. I was about to go pick her up.

"How did you get home?" I ask her

"Carrie's mum took me, she's over there, and Carrie is my best friend" She points out the tall bony woman holding the hand of a little girl who I assume is Carrie.

"Oh, alright" I say.

I look to Peeta questioningly. "Should we tell her now?"

"Yeah" He's still smiling.

I take Rue's hand and sit down on the couch with her, Peeta joins us and Gale watches from the other room.

"What's going on?" she asks accusingly.

"Well your mum and I have some very special and exiting news."

I continue what Peeta started "You're going to have a baby brother."

"How?" she asks

Oh I hope she doesn't mean how he got in me.

"He's in my tummy." I tell her

"You're growing him, like a sunflower?"

I laugh and so does Peeta "Yes mums growing him."

"YAY, YAY, YAY" She screams "I CAN'T WAIT, WHEN WILL HE BE READY?"

"Uh, about nine months" I tell her, suppressing a smile "_when will he be ready?" _Like as though he's a meal being cooked.

"Rue, why don't you go and draw out how his room will look?" Peeta suggests holding in his excitement.  
"Ok" she runs of to her room with her school bag.

I just sit there hugging Peeta locked in this seemingly infinite moment. When Gale coughs loudly both Peeta and I jump. We walk over to him and take seats opposite him.

"Look" he begins "I came here because the Capitol has sent word that they want to see how the 'Mockingjay' is going, and I'm guessing you too Peeta since you're her h-husband, so you'll have an interview with Caesar Flickerman."

"What?" Peeta asks speaking the words that I cannot.

"They want to see how the face of the rebellion is going, that would be you Katniss"

"Why?" Peeta asks

"Because some people are starting to think it is just another set up, the original Capitol residence, they think it might be a set up because they never saw through your fake romance, they believe they have been tricked again."

"What if they think I don't love Peeta like when it was first fabricated?" I ask suddenly very worried.

"They won't this time even I don't question it, and I question everything." He looks down at his hands.

It's true he does question everything.

"Ok, so it's just to show that it's real?" I ask

"Yes" Gale assures me "That's it"

"When do we leave?" Peeta asks Gale.

"Tomorrow"

"Well that's kind of last minute, what do we do with Rue?" I say a little too loudly.

"Take her, it's not like you have to pay for the ride there."

"Fine. Where are you staying tonight since Hazelle and the kids are in district 2?"I ask

"Don't know." He tells me.

I look at Peeta as if to say _can he stay here?_

"You can spend the night here Gale" Peeta tells him.

"Thanks" Is all he says.

When we all go to bed, I can't help but think about what it will be like in the Capitol? Where I killed Coin, where my sister, Prim, was burnt to death, where I tried to kill myself and Peeta stopped me. I have so many bad memories there the red haired avox girl and Darius where murdered because of me.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

When we are all up in the morning, have eaten and are ready to leave, I make a dash for the bathroom. As I run to the bathroom, I push Gale out of the way, when I make it to the bathroom, my breakfast make a re-appears. Well the vomiting has started for this pregnancy. Great. I rinse out my mouth and let Peeta know.

"You right?" he asks

"Yeah" I tell him.

Within a matter of minutes we're at the train station about to get on the train. When we step in the train it looks familiar and when we step through the second door both Peeta and I gasp. It's the train we went on with Effie Trinket on our first trip to the hunger games.

"What?" Gale says arrogantly

"This is the train we went on to go to the games." I tell him.

"Oh really?" Gale asks sounding taken-a-back.

"Yes" Peeta say's coldly.

We walk off with Rue to my old room on the train, leaving Gale alone. I already feel like more cheese buns, not how they make them in the Capitol, how Peeta makes them but he's not allowed in the kitchen so he can't make any for me. No one knows about Rue so when we introduce our six year old child we will also introduce our forth coming son.

I fall asleep late that night and begin to dream. My dream is about the hunger games, the last one with the previous tributes in it, I'm in my room on the train and Peeta is with me, we are just sleeping. Suddenly the lizard mutts that killed Finnick are in our room try to kill Peeta and take him from me too. I hear someone screaming, when I relies it's me and that I have woken and Peeta is trying to pull me from the nightmare completely. I bury my face into his chest, crying.

"Mummy?"

Rue! I forgot she's in the room with us; no, I never wanted her to see me like this.

"It's ok" Peeta tells her "Mum is ok, she just had a nightmare"

"Mum? Are you ok?"

"I, I'm fine" I tell her "Go back to sleep."

She does as she is told, and I tell Peeta all about my dream.

"Nothing will keep me from you ever again." He tells me and we both go back to sleep.

When I wake up in the morning it is not how I expect. Someone is knocking on the door.

"We've got another big, big, big, day" Effie calls from outside the door.

"Effie?" I call back

She pushes the door open and stands there holding a clipboard, she has a turquoise wig on and a satin green calf length dress and the usual little niknakes.

"Well I see you two still don't get up early in the morning" she say's

"Effie …." Peeta starts

"Ooh, who is this?" She gestures to Rue.

"That's our, daughter, Effie." Peeta informs her.

"Daughter? What is her name?"

"Rue." I tell her.

"Should I wake her Peeta, Katniss?" she asks us.

"No, she was pretty tired last night, I'll carry her" Peeta says softly.

So we get changed and leave the train because we had already reached the Capitol while the three of us slept. There are cameras everywhere wanting to eat up our images once again. A few people gasp when they see Peeta carrying Rue. Effie escorts us back to our old home in the Capitol, the apartment we stayed in during our first hunger games. Our interview with Caesar Flickerman is tonight, I'm a little nervous, but Peeta and Caesar a practically old friends. I haven't seen Gale since we left him in the dining room last night but I really couldn't care less.

Peeta, Rue and I are playing Rues favourite game, celebrity heads, when my old prep team comes in bobbing up and down like they did when I first met them.

"Katniss! Peeta! And; who is this?" Octavia beams

"Hey guys" I say "This is our daughter, Rue"

"Oh, she's so pretty" Viena says politely

"Thank you" Rue says

"We have to make you three up" Flavius interjects

"How did you know about Rue?" Peeta asks

"We didn't we were just told to make up Katniss and her company" he replies

So they begin to fix us up, only unlike last time they don't wax all the hair of my arms and legs, that was the old Capitol fashion, but not anymore. By the end of it all I am wearing a long deep blue dress with small sparkles in it every so often. My hair has been left long and lose and I have flat black shoes on, no heels. Peeta has a simple black suit on only, he has a blue tie and cuffs, so we are still represented as a partnership, matching. Rue has a lovely pink dress that has a flowing skirt. The necklace she wears is a heart with two blue diamonds in it. Her hair has been done up in two low, long brown pig tails. Her shoes are very similar to mine only pink.

We get to the studio and Caesar has already began, we are late within less than a minute of arriving he introduces us.

"Please welcome Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark." The crowd cheers.

We both take hold of Rue's hands and walk onto the stage; a collective gasp fills the room.

"Welcome Peeta, Katniss." He begins gesturing to the three seater couch provided "Who is this young girl, you've got with you?"

"This is our daughter, Rue." Peeta says introducing her.

"Your daughter?"

"Yes, also we've been married for six and a half years"

"Congratulations. How old are you, Rue?"

"I'm six" she says in a very small voice that no one can miss because of the microphone.

"Well I don't think they could shock us anymore, ladies and gentlemen" says Ceaser

I look at Peeta, smile and simply touch my abdomen.

"Well we can Ceaser," Peeta says, meaning for me to finish for him

"We are having another child, we found out very recently only a couple of days ago actually, we are having a son and no we have not picked a name yet"

"Well than, Katniss, Peeta, you introduce us to your six year old child and the child who has not been born yet."

"Yes" is all I say.

Peeta brings the conversation back to life. Just as I begin to feel the last meal I ate churning in my stomach.

"I still, work in the bakery, my family owned-"

"Peeta," I cut him off.

"What? What's wrong?" he asks, I can see the worry in his eyes.

"I'm going to be;" I hesitate "Remember before we got on the train the other day?

"Yes, is that what's about to happen?" he asks

"Yes" I say, I'm trying to hold it in until I get off the stage,

"Caesar, we need to go for just a minute, pregnancy issues." Peeta explains

"Ah, yes, well than how about we have a short add break."

"That would be nice." I say my voice shaky from the strain of holding down my vomit.

A crew member of the television show tells us the add is showing and Peeta picks up Rue while I get off the stage as fast as possible with-out running. Someone is waiting behind the curtain with a large bucket that I seize immediately and rip off the microphone on my chest. The add break is almost over by the time the entire contents of my stomach is in the bucket. Peeta has gone to get me a glass of water, and Rue waits with me on the floor.

"Mummy, why were you sick?"

"Your brother makes that happen, but he can't help it." I tell her.

"Ok" is the only reply I get.

Peeta is back with my water I rinse my mouth out and spit the contents into the bucket. I ask someone what they want me to do with it and they just tell my they will deal with it because the add is over and we are to walk on stage now. Rue is very tired, I would carry her back onto the stage only I'm not leaving this glass of water, so Peeta sits her on his hip and we walk back onto the stage. The rest of the interview fly's by, with Peeta keeping an annoyingly close watch on me. During the interview, to help calm Peeta down, I pick Rue up and sit in her spot then just sit her on my lap. It works; Peeta doesn't seem as tense when Caesar tells us that our interview time is up.

When we get back to our apartment it's late and Rue is extremely tired. I can smell the lamb stew, still my favourite dish from the capitol. Rue has never tried it, and she hasn't eaten much today so we make her stay up to eat. Once she is in bed, Effie goes as well leaving Peeta and I alone. We have seconds of the lamb stew and a memory suddenly hits me. Peeta and I in the cave that served as our home during our first hunger games, we had lamb stew sent to us from some sponsors and Peeta licked the plate clean to spite Effie.

"Katniss," Peeta's voice brings me back to the present.

"Yes?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just that night in the cave when we had the lamb stew, and you licked the plate clean." I'm surprised when I start laughing, and Peeta joins in.

Then he suddenly stops.

"What?" I ask

"I was just thinking about the baby." he tells me

"What about the baby?"

"Well, the fun part, you know before the baby comes," I must look like I don't get it because he continues "Naming the baby."

"So you were thinking about naming the baby. Do you mean thinking of what to call him, as in thinking of actual names or-"

He cuts me off "Thinking about the both of us picking out his name. Coming up with some ideas, I want to think of some, write them down maybe."

"Ok sure, sorry I'm a little scatter brained." I tell him.

We sit there for a bit waiting for the other to go first.

"Look how about we both write some names down and then we'll look at each other's lists and cross of the names we don't like and work it out from there." Peeta suggests.

"Ok I'll get some paper." So I do and I get us both a pen.

After about five minutes I have only written three names on my list; Sam, Keetin, and Denis.

Peeta and I swap lists. I read his list of ten names but only one sticks in my head. I'm about to voice the name when Peeta speaks.

"You want to call our son Keetin?"

"I couldn't think of any names and I know it's boring to mix our names but I didn't want to have just two names on the list."

"Okay but I crossed that and Denis off the list, sorry"

"That's ok; I'm surprised you didn't cross them all off." Then I continue "You thought of naming him after Gale?"

"Well yeah, he's your best friend; he saved a lot of district twelve during the rebellion, so I thought it would be nice."

"Alright, the only other name on your list I like is Jack"

"That was quick, I mean narrowing it down to three names" He says.

"Mhhm" I say filling my mouth with some more lamb stew.

Peeta just laughs.

"Ok so our son will be named, Sam, Gale, or Jack."

"You're going to name your son after me?" Gale asks

How did he get in here?

"We're considering it." Peeta says.

"Really?"

"Yes" I say harshly

"I'm guessing it wasn't your idea Katniss, considering the way you said that."

"Your right it wasn't my idea." I snap "You've been arrogant, and rude to us. I really hate you at the moment."

"Fine."

"Is that all you can say?" I ask

"What?"

"You're my best friend you seemed happy for about two seconds until you saw Peeta with me and then when you found out I married him and had a daughter with him, you acted overly sullen. Then when we found out we were going to have another child we were so happy and you just got worse." I say just an octave bellow yelling.

"You didn't tell me you were with him" Gale yells back.

"God. You can't handle that, can you, that I chose Peeta and not you"

"What?" He says

"I didn't and still don't need either one of you to 'survive'"

"You heard that conversation?"

"Yes and I was so angry at both of you for that."

"Why were you angry at me?" Peeta asks

"Because you didn't stick up for me. You were both implying that my decision would be based on who I needed to stay alive, not who I loved, in that way." I say and storm out of the room.

"I'll be in bed or throwing up if you need me Peeta." I tell him as I leave, so he knows it's just a build-up of anger not me actually be angry at him.

I do throw up, on my way back to bed I check on Rue, in Peeta's old bedroom. She looks so cute and vulnerable. I sit on the floor by her bed just watching her sleep, like Peeta apparently does when I sleep. I fall asleep with my head hung back on Rue's bed. I dream again tonight about my son, he is six and Rue is twelve. They are playing together in the meadow near my old home in the seam. Peeta wakes me.

"Katniss, what are you doing in here?"

"I just wanted to watch her for a while" I say sleepily.

"Ok, are you going to sleep in here or are you coming to bed?"

"Uh, I'll come to bed." I say getting up.

The rest of my sleep is dreamless. When I wake up it's to the smell of cheese buns, I roll over and find Peeta is not there. I sit bolt upright in bed.

"Peeta!"

He runs in "What?!"

"Where were you?" I ask accusingly

"Making cheese buns, the kitchen is pretty close to this room."

"Oh" I say, then a thought hits me "Where's Rue?"

"Still asleep."

"Ok. Do we leave today?"

"I'm not sure, ask Gale." He suggests.

Great, I don't want to even see Gale let alone talk to him.

So I get dressed and start looking for Gale, which doesn't take very long, he's eating by himself.

"When do we leave?" I ask

"Oh, hi, did you forget how to be pleasant?" he asks sarcastically.

"Yes. Now when do we leave?" I say harshly.

"You know I think I rather talking to your husband." He says and storms off.

I go and tell Peeta and he just tells me he'll ask later. So I just wonder around. At eleven o'clock I wake Rue up; we let her sleep in because she has been so tired for the last few days. She asks if she can have something to eat, which of course I say she can. She has some lamb stew, and bacon. The smell of the bacon reaches me and makes me gag, and I have to go and throw up again. After drinking a lot of water I come back to eat with Rue and luckily there is no more bacon smell. I eat a lot of the cheese buns, Peeta was allowed to make, very fast. We play a game with Rue, for a while. I ask Peeta if he can go ask Gale when we leave and he does. I also think to see my mother, who hasn't seen Rue since she was four and still may not know about our son. She does not usually watch television. When Peeta gets back he tells me we are leaving in one hour, so the three of us pack. I also tell Peeta that I want to see my mother, so we can tell her about our son and so she can see Rue. Not long after my sister died, my mother stayed in the Capitol, now she lives in district four, it used to be known for fishing.

"Rue," I call. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes" she tells me from Peeta's old room.

So in a matter of minutes were all ready to leave. We get outside the building and there are people waiting to see Rue, even more so now they know she's our daughter. The drive to the train station seems to takes a while, probably because I want to see my mother and tell her about the baby. We reach the station and are on the train in less than a minute. Rue remembers where we slept and goes in to play. Peeta and I continue our conversation on what to name our son.

"Which one do you like the least, Gale, Sam or Jack?" Peeta asks.

"I don't want to name him after Gale." I say forcefully.

"Okay then. It's either Jack or Sam."

"Yeah" I trail off.

"Any ideas on how to choose?" He asks.

"None." Then an idea hits me "How about we ask Rue?"

"Ok, now?"

"Yep, come on." I say dragging him along with me.

We run off to our room where she plays.

"Rue." Peeta says.

"Yes?"

"What should we name your brother Sam or Jack?" I ask

"Um," She says "Jack."

"Ok then that's your brother's name, Jack Mellark."

We get to my mother's at about seven at night and we had left at about twelve thirty. She hadn't heard about the baby otherwise she would mentioned it.

"Mum," I say while she giggles about something with Rue "We have something to tell you, can you come here?"

She does, rather quickly.

"I'm pregnant again, this time with a boy."

"We're going to name him Jack, Rue helped pick the name." Peeta tells her.

"Oh, really?" She says.

"Yes" Peeta says

"Does Gale know?"

"Yes, he was there when we found out" I tell her.

"Oh" is all she can manage.

"Aren't you happy?" I ask feeling slightly insulted.

"Yes," she begins "What's his middle name going to be?"

"Um, I haven't even thought about that, Katniss?" Peeta asks me

"No idea." I say "Why?"

"Just curious." She replies vaguely.

I stand up frustrated.

"What, what aren't you saying to us?" I demanded!

"I just, thought you'd name him after Gale that was always my dream that if you had a son you'd name him after your best friend." She says defensively.

"Well I'm not living your dream." I yell at her.

"Fine, I'm sorry. "

I walk away to the room Peeta and I are staying in at my mother's house. I start to think about actually calling my son Jack, it sounds; odd. I don't like it. I want to change his name. I don't have any idea, now, on what to call him. My stomach begins to lurch, the moment I consider going back to the living room. I run for the bathroom and once again my previous meal makes a re-appearance. Peeta is in the bathroom just as the last remainders of vomit leave my body.

"Are you ok?" He asks a little breathless.

"Yes." I say wiping my mouth "You don't need to freak out every time I chuck, it's just the baby."

"The baby? We're not calling him Jack, then?" He asks.

"Well, I don't really like the name that much, now that I think about it."

"Uh," he says

"I'm sorry" I say

"That's ok" he says "Can we still get Rue to help choose her little brothers name?"

"Yes, I want her to do that too, it's cute"

"Ok, but, we need to start thinking about his name again." He says slowly.

"I know." Is all of my reply.

I come out into the lounge room again when dinner is ready. I eat the bland mish mash of vegetables and turkey, robotically. All I want to eat is cheese buns. Rue doesn't want to eat her peas, if she had have eaten a lot of recent I would have let her off today, but since she hasn't eaten much I make her eat all of her peas. After Peeta, Rue and I have finished dinner and Rue is ready for bed I get her to say goodnight to my mother. She does and then runs to Peeta and I and says goodnight to the both of us. Peeta and I stay up after my mother to think again, about what to name our son. I suggest a fair few this time; Luke, Cooper, Chris, and I also say Sam again, because I like the name. Peeta has a large list of names, just like before. He also thought of Sam. Some names out of what Peeta suggested that I liked where Leo and Simon.

"Which names do you like the least?" I ask

"Uh, even though I thought of it too I like Sam the least"

"Me too" I answer truthfully.

"Interesting," He says mimicking Haymitch. I give a full hearty laugh and Peeta joins in.

I give him a quick kiss on the cheek and head into the kitchen to get a glass of water for the both of us. I set the glasses down on the table and sit back in my seat. I lean forward to brush the hair out of his eyes and he catches my hand and presses it to his lips.

"So" he whispers against my hand, and touching my abdomen to gesture towards the baby "We aren't calling him Sam."

"No" I say equally as quiet.

Then he pulls my arm around his shoulders so that our mouths are almost touching and pulls me in for a kiss. We kiss for a while, until I have to throw up. I feel bad when I get back.

"The throwing up had nothing to with your kissing, just the baby." I say matter-of-factly.

Peeta and I go up to bed hand in hand. I don't fall asleep for hours, whereas Peeta is out like a light on our fold out bed.

I'm still awake when Peeta wakes up at six a.m., used to the bakery time table.

"Already awake?" he says in a surprised tone, I'm never awake this early.

"Haven't gone to sleep." I tell him.

"What? Really?"

"Yes, don't worry about it, it happened with Rue."

"I know, and you had to go to hospital so they could give you sleep medication, you had to stay there for four weeks." He says louder than he usually speaks but not as loud as yelling.

"Ok, if it happens any more I'll tell you, and I'll get something for it." I assure him.

"You better; I don't want you in hospital again, unless you're actually having a child"

"'A' child?" I say.

"Yes, we might have more so after our son is born, if we do have more children that is, the only reason I want you in a hospital."

"Ok." I say.

We are leaving my mother's today, Rue is not happy with that. We eat breakfast in silence; Rue doesn't speak because she is grumpy with Peeta and I, because we can't stay longer. My mother won't speak to me until I say something first and Peeta doesn't know what to say to any of us. When we finish, I go up the hall to get Rue's, Peeta's and my bag. I drop them on the floor, and go throw up again. I say goodbye to my mother, give her a hug and wait by the door for Peeta and Rue. Peeta joins me at the door after saying goodbye to my mother. Rue stands crying in front of my mother.

"Rue" I say softly "We have to go."

"I don't want to." She screams and clings to my mother.

A memory hits me. When I volunteered for Prim in the hunger games, she wrapped her arms around me like that.

"Rue, nothing is going to happen to her."

"I know."

"Than what's so bad? I promise well come back when you have school break."

"NO!" She shouts "I want to stay"

"Peeta?" I say.

He walks over to her, crouches down and puts his arms out for a hug. Rue miss reads that she thinks he means to hug her goodbye and let her stay here. Peeta stands up with his arms locked around her, while she kicks and screams and cries.

"I'm sorry" He says to my mother.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

At home I don't sleep for several weeks. In the kitchen one day I grab a cheese bun. I see it roll along the floor away from my hand, I notice the floor is cold, as my eyes close slowly, the last thing I hear is Peeta shouting my name.

When I wake up the room is unfamiliar. I turn my head to one side and see a blank wall.

"Peeta?" I say my hoarse voice cracking at the end.

"Over here" he says from the other side of me.

"What happened?"

"You didn't tell me you weren't sleeping." He says the same look of forgiveness in his eyes as when I gave him sleep syrup to save his life in the hunger games.

I look down, tears filling my eyes, I should have said something.

"I'm sorry." I say my voice cracking again.

"It doesn't make now, you've definitely caught up on your sleep, you've been out for about two weeks."

"What?" I ask horrified.

"It's ok, I got Rue to school on time every day, I picked her up on time and I brought her in every day to see you."

I calm down a bit.

"Is the baby ok?" I ask

"He should be, no one has found anything wrong with him, and he's growing." Peeta says, lowering his eyes to the bump that has appeared on my abdomen.

"I'm showing?" I ask raising my eye brows, while holding in my excitement.

"Yes." Peeta stands up and gives me a light kiss.

I let the smile I withheld shine on my face. I'm showing, finally.

I'm allowed to leave the hospital, but Peeta has to stay home some more, which means more time to discuss our son's name, but we need some form of income. I can't work for a while, because I've just come out of hospital. I will only work for a short time, until the baby is bigger. I wish I had someone to talk to other than Peeta. I do love him, but I want to talk to someone other than him. I could start seeing Delly, but she's happy for everyone, no matter what. Maybe Rue's friend's mother. I don't know. Peeta makes me a lot of cheese buns. They taste really good, the baby will love them, after he's been born, I mean. I can but can't wait until he's born. Peeta and I keep re-bringing up what we are going to call our son.

"Cooper, Simon, Leo, and Chris?" I say

"Yes, I like Simon the lest, what about you?"

"Same." I reply

I think about, the fact that we have two 'c' names out of our finally three, it's interesting.

"Not Cooper, either, "I say "I don't like it as much as Chris and I don't want two 'C' names."

"Ok, the tuff part now, Chris or Leo, which do you prefer?"

"Chris," I say and then hedge "I think."

He smiles, "Me too, look I know we were going to ask Rue, but we both like Chris,"

"Well, we call him Chris no matter what, and just ask Rue to help us and whatever she says we just go with Chris." I suggest.

"Okay." He says grinning wickedly.

We go in to Rue and ask her weather she likes the name Leo or Chris more and luckily she says Chris.

"Good" Peeta says "That's what we're calling your brother."

She likes the idea of calling her brother Chris and so do I. I decide to call my mother, to let her know what our son will be called. Chris, I wonder what he will look like. Will he be like Rue? Have my hair and Peeta's eyes or will he have Peeta's hair and my eyes? I try to imagine Chris. Blonde hairs, chubby toddler legs, grey eyes. I imagine him to be a fast runner, I'm not sure why, I just do.

The next day Gale shows up again, I haven't seen him since we were last in the Capitol, more than two weeks ago. When Peeta answered the door Gale was there with a tall blonde haired woman, who had light green eyes. She is not as tall as Gale but she is taller than Peeta and I. He introduces her as his fiancé.

"Then why were you so pissed at me for not telling you about Rue and the fact that I married Peeta" I ask peevishly.

"Because." He says shortly

"You have a fiancé, and yet you're angry at me because I didn't tell you I have been married for six and a half years and that I have a daughter."

"Yes."

"But that's ridiculous especially when you're going to be married. You are still angry that I chose Peeta and not you." I point pout.

I walk away, leaving Gale and his fiancé alone with Peeta, so that I can try and calm down. I'm not angry at him for having a fiancé just the fact that while he was engaged he was angry at me for not telling him about Peeta and Rue. I spend most of the afternoon with Rue in her bedroom, talking about Chris and playing games. I come out with Rue when Peeta tells us that he has made dinner. Eating with Gale is weird. Eating with his fiancé is as well. Peeta tries, as usual to bring the conversation to life.

"So how long have you two been engaged?" he asks

"Oh, about three months." She says.

"Cool," I say "sorry I don't know your name?"

"My name's Hazel Jane."

"Hazel, like Gales mother." I say

"Is that her name?"

"Yes."

"I didn't know that." She says

"Katniss and I have been married for six and a half years." Says Peeta.

"Really?" She asks, obviously she hadn't been paying attention when I was yelling.

"Yes. We also have a daughter which I'm guessing you figured out since she's sitting with us. We have a son on the way." I say gesturing to the bump on my belly.

"Oh you're so lucky." She gushes

"Yes." Says Peeta, taking my hand under the table, what I wouldn't give to be alone with him right now.

"Aren't you happy for them Gale?" she asks

"Yes." He replies in hard voice.

"Well now that we're all finished, I can show you were you and Gale are able to sleep." I tell Hazel, she comes along.

As we walk down the hall to where she'll be sleeping she asks me what Peeta and I are going to name our son, and I tell her, his name will be Chris. She tells me that she loves the name. I appreciate that. When we get into the second guest bedroom, I'm just about to tell her where the bathroom is when I have to dash there to through up, again. I come back and she has called Peeta, who of course has stressed out, wondering if I'm ok, he did this when I was pregnant with Rue.

"I'm ok." I tell him

"Sure?" he asks

"Yes, it's Chris."

"Ok."

I continue to show Hazel the bathroom and where everything she will need is. She goes to bed straight away, well, after she gives Gale a kiss and says goodnight. It is really weird to watch Gale kiss someone. I suppose this is sort of what Gale felt when I kissed Peeta on national television, so many times. Gale, Peeta and I say goodnight to Rue next, because she has also decided to go to bed. Gale stays up with Peeta and I for about half an hour drinking hot chocolate. Peeta picked it up off the train on our way how from my mothers. After Gale goes to bed, Peeta and I stay up late again. This time not so we can discuss our son's name. This time we stay up so we can spend some time together, the house is very crowded of recent. Peeta and I go and sit on the couch. He takes my hand, tightly. I lean I to kiss him softly. When my lips touch his, Peeta presses in much more closely to me and holds me in for the kiss that is much more energized than what I was intending. My thoughts are filled with nothing but this kiss, when it stops I realise that I have moved onto Peeta's lap. He smiles at me, a little breathless from the long lasting kiss, but I can't say much I'm breathless too.

"What?" I ask

"Nothing, I just had a sudden thought. If I could possibly go back in time to my eleven year old self I would tell myself that even though my crush began at five and wouldn't be real until I was about seventeen or eighteen I would marry you and be very happy with you."

"I love you, Peeta."

"I love you too Katniss." He smiles and puts his hand on the side of my face and kisses me again.

I start to get hot, so I take of my jacket and so does Peeta. We continue to kiss for a while until, Gale walks into the room.

"Uh." He says in an off key way.

"Gale." I say surprised, but I don't move.

"Just getting a drink of water." He tells us and walks as silently to the kitchen as he did to us.

Peeta muffles his laugh on his arm. He leans closer to me and whispers in my ear.

"Maybe we should take this to bed."

"Peeta." I say

"What?"

"No."

"But-"

"Not with so many people in the house." I cut him off.

"Ok" he says glumly.

"Next time." I say with a smile.

I give him another quick kiss, get up and drag him along with me. As we leave the lounge Gale does as well. I walk into our bedroom, pull back the sheets and get in my side of the bed. Peeta gets in his side and raps his arm around me, placing one hand on my stomach, protecting Chris.

I wake up during the night and hear someone talking; at first I think its Gale or Hazel in the other room. I roll over in Peeta's arms and realise he's talking in his sleep.

"No, don't hurt him, please." He murmurs.

I listen more to what he is dreaming about.

"Stop you're hurting her too, stop it."

"Please, you're going to kill them, both of them, don't hurt them."

"No, please not Rue too."

He starts to cry out, as if in pain, it's not a loud scream but he's screaming, none the less.

"Peeta?" I say trying to keep my voice calm and smooth.

He still doesn't wake. I shake his arm vigorously and say his name just as soothingly but a bit louder. His eyes open and he is breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" I ask him

"Yes, are you?"

"I'm fine; you were the one freaking out."

"I know but, they were hurting Chris and then I realised they were hurting you as well. Then you we're both starting to die and I beg them to stop. When you were both close to dying they brought Rue in, rope was tied around her wrists and she was screaming for me to help her but I couldn't." he says holding in his hysteria.

"It's ok. I'm perfectly healthy and so is Chris." I give him a kiss to reassure him.

I get out of bed and go to the bathroom. When I get back I see he's been crying. I wipe the tears away.

"It's ok," it doesn't help much "Do you want me to get Rue?"

"No, but I will go check on her."

I stay in bed and snuggle down once again. When Peeta gets back he seems much better and he tells me that she is cuddled up to her favourite teddy bear. I tell him that I love him and we both go back to sleep. I wake up not long after to throw up. I don't dream but when I wake up I feel unbelievably happy. I get out of bed, get dressed and since Rue is easier to wake up I decide to wake her before Peeta. I walk out of our room and down the hall a couple of steps into Rue's bedroom. It used to be mine when I first came to live in this house; Prim's room is used as the guest bedroom. Sometimes I go in to her room just to think about her, volunteering for her in the games didn't save her life, it just prolonged it. I wish I could go back and stop her running to those children, who also lost their lives. Almost every night I see her body as she stands upright covered in flames as she burns to death. The worst part of when she died was seeing that and just before I passed out I saw her body fall to the ground, dead.

"Rue." I say standing in the door way to her room.

"Yes?" She says sleepily.

"School, you've got to get up."

"Ok." She drones.

I walk back to my bedroom to wake Peeta, who unlike me can sleep in without the need for medication. I creep onto my side of the bed and when I'm about to say his name I decide to kiss him awake, like I did in the first arena, only this time for real.

"Ahh"

"Get up." I tell him as I push myself of the bed.

Before I can actually put one foot on the ground Peeta has grabbed me around the waist, being careful not to hurt the baby, and sat me on his lap again to give me a kiss, much like the one last night.

I pull away and say "Come on, get up, you have to go to work and Rue has to go to school."

"Work?" he asks

"Yes, the bakery." I mimic his puzzled tone.

"Do I start back today?"

"Yes."

"Oh." He says "I don't want to."

"If I could cook anything well I would go for you but since I can't and the fact that everything taste and smell wise is all over the place, it's probably better if you go."

"Yeah, otherwise the bakery would lose all its customers and there for money."

He's trying to get me to bite so I decide to go along with it "Both you and I know it." I wink on my way out the door.

I hear something fall, it sounds heavy so I backtrack to my room.

"Peeta?"

"I'm alright; just I forgot that I took off my leg."

"Oh" is all I say, I always forget about his leg being amputated in our first hunger games.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, right next to me on the floor."

"Do you need help up?"

"No." he says sounding frustrated.

"Sorry" I say in a frustrated tone, just as he used with me.

"I appreciate it but I can do it myself, ok?"

"Ok, I just wanted to help."

I walk around to where he is on the floor and watch him attach the leg. Once it's on I can see his face is flushed.

"Are you ok?" I ask worried he is going to be frustrated at me for asking that.

"Yes." He says, exasperated.

"Good." I say trying not to let his bad mood bring me down, I'm happy for once, for no good reason.

We walk out of the room and Rue is down stairs ready to go to school. Peeta makes Rue, Gale, Hazel and I breakfast. Everyone else gets bacon and eggs on toast, but he makes me some cheese buns, which I crave so desperately.

"Thank you." I say when he hands me a plate of them.

We eat in silence, until Peeta ask Rue what she'll be doing in class today.

"Uh, I think we are going to learn about the hunger games." She says and everyone one of us stops eating.

"What?" I ask her.

"Well, we are learning about the history of Panem and now we are up to learning about the hunger games. First we learnt about the dark days that made the hunger games come now we are learning about the hunger games and next we learn about the revolution that you guys started."

"So they're just going to talk about it right?" Peeta says.

"No were are going to watch the last one that didn't get blown up." She says "I don't know what that means 'blown up'"

"The last hunger games, well I blew up the arena." I say remembering the fireworks I had created.

"Really?" she says with a smile.

"Yes." Peeta says

"Did the teachers ask the parents' permission to show you the video of the hunger games?"

"I don't know." She says filling her mouth with bacon.

"I'll talk to Delly. Peeta don't worry she'll be fine, she knows we were there and that we, no I did bad things, but she needs to fully know sooner or later."

"Yes, she needs to know but does she need to see it? We were actually there, that has messed us up both physically and emotionally, what do you think it's going to do to a six year old who has never been through what we went through before the games?"

"Peeta, she will be fine. "

"Are you one hundred percent sure?"

"OK no, I will stay in the room to watch if you want me too, so if Rue or anyone else have questions I can answer them."

"If you're going to do that I should come, neither of us wanted to watch that after we won, and now you're going to watch it with a bunch of six year olds looking at your every move?"

"I will hold in whatever I feel, like I did when we won."

"You didn't do a very good job of it." He says and leaves the table.

I follow him and say I'm sorry, we both agree Peeta should take another day off, so that we can sit by and watch the hunger games once again, to help Rue understand why we did what we did.

We leave the house with Gale and Hazel still there; Peeta gives Rue a piggy back to the school. I take Peeta's hand when we step into Delly's classroom.

"Peeta, Katniss, what a surprise." She says smiling.

"Delly, are you going to show the kids the hunger games?" I ask straight out.

"Yes."

"Delly, if you must show them, we want to be here, so that if Rue has any questions about why we did what we did, we can answer them." Peeta says.

"What about the other children?" She asks.

"We'll answer their questions too." I say.

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

"We have to be." Peeta tells her.

When the class files into the room Delly introduces us as Rue's parents and the two people who won the hunger games that they are going to watch. She tells them if they have any questions they can ask us. Peeta and I go sit at the back off the room while Delly turns off the lights and starts the video. I take hold off Peeta's hand tightly. It's the same video we watched after we won, during our first interview. They show the reaping, starting in district one, Cato and Clove. Then district two, Marvel and Glimmer. Then district three, four, five, six, and so on. When they get to district eleven, I try not to cry when I see Rue walk on the stage leaving her family behind.

"Is that the girl Rue was named after?" Carrie, Rue's best friend, asks.

Peeta looks at me to see if I can speak, I just shake my head lightly.

"Yes." He says.

When they get to district twelve everyone is silent. They show Effie pulling out the girls' name. All of the kids in the room expect my name to be called.

"_Primrose Everdeen."_ Effie's voice says through the video.

A few kids gasp. Then I start walking out blindly after her, calling her name and telling her to go to our mother. Gale picks Prim up and takes her to my mother. I try not to cry, seeing her so young and walking around, screaming my name. I didn't save her, she still died. Peeta sees the tears that have begun to spill over. He kisses my forehead and raps his arm around me. On the screen Effie tells us it is time to choose the boy tribute for district twelve.

"_Peeta Mellark" _

Peeta walks onto the stage, we are told to shake hands and then they cut to the chariot rides. Peeta and I look amazing, hand in hand, smiling, waving and on fire. When the chariot rides are over we see Snow speaking to the twenty-four tributes below him. They cut to the interview and mostly skip through everyone but Peeta's interview and mine. They show Caesar asking me questions about the flame on chariot ride costume, him asking me questions about Prim that are now unbearable to hear. During my interview Rue asks us if that was the man she talked to when we went to the Capitol. I tell her it is. When Peeta starts talking about how he smells like roses and he and Caesar sniff each other the kids start laughing very loudly and Peeta smile but goes beet red. Then when Caesar asks if he has a girlfriend the whole room goes quiet, waiting to see if he'll say yes it is Katniss. When Peeta says no the class all gasp, once again. I lean over to Peeta.

"I told you, you threw bomb shell after bomb shell at the audience." I whisper

"Ok, now I believe you." He whispers back, but I don't think he does.

"_Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" Caesar says._

"_Well, there is this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping."_

"_She have another fellow?" _

"_I don't know, but a lot of boys like her," _Peeta says.

"_So, here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" _

"_I don't think it's going to work out. Winning… won't help in my case,"_

"_Why ever not?" _

On the screen Peeta blushes beet red.

"_Because…because…she came here with me." _

Some of the class gasp again; others make those 'ooohh' sounds. I smile at the fact that then I had no idea I would come out alive with Peeta, go into another hunger games with him, and then marry him and have two children with him. Peeta must be thinking the same thing because the smile on his face is very similar to mine. Then I realise that they have cut to the countdown to when the slaughter of children begins. They show me look at Peeta and him shake his head as he sees what I was considering. Then we all start running, Peeta, far away from everyone else. They show me run for the orange bag I used. The show the boy cough blood on me, and clove through the knife that finds a home in my back pack. Delly skips the blood bath so as not to scare the kids. The part we are up to next is after Peeta joins the careers.

"Why did you help them?" asks some kid with red hair.

"To keep them away from Katniss." He tells everyone.

They show me running from the fire, and then running from the careers and Peeta. They show me tree'd and they also show Rue point to tracker jacker nest. When I cut the nest free, it raises a lot of questions, especially from our Rue.

"Why did you try to hurt dad?" Rue asks

"I didn't know he was trying to protect me, I thought he was trying to kill me."

"But you knew dad loved you."

"I thought he just said that so that he would get more help from the people who give us stuff while we are in the arena."

"So you didn't love dad then?"

"No." I say feeling bad.

We continue to watch it; they see the girl from district three that died while running, from the tracker jacker stings. Then they see Glimmer screaming like the others and watch her fall to the ground dead.

"Mum why did you kill her?"

"I didn't try to, but I had to get away from them, I promised my sister, Prim, that I would try as hard as I could to get home to her."

"But you didn't have to kill her."

"I didn't want to, the tracker jackers whose nest I cut down, don't always kill or I would be dead and so would your dad."

"But you killed her and the other girl."

"Rue."

"You killed her mum."

"She didn't want to Rue, she wanted to get out of the tree so she could stay alive, the tracker jackers were just ment to scare everyone off." Peeta tells her, not the whole truth, it wasn't just to scare them off, but Rue won't think I'm a bad person because of that.

After that everyone watches Peeta fight off Cato, when we won and watched this I couldn't watch Peeta get hurt, this time I have trouble but I can see how hard he's trying to save me and keep Cato away from me.

"Peeta," I say trailing off.

"I know." Is all he says, but gives me a light kiss on the cheek.

The next part they show is when Rue and I become allies. I hear the very conversation that sometimes shows up in my nightmares, our plan to blow up the careers food supply. Rue and I split up, watching it this time is hard knowing that that was the last time I would ever see her healthy and alive. They show foxface work her way through the maze of explosives and then I blow it up. When I next start to pay attention it's when I'm at the camp waiting for Rue to return. They then cut to Rues death scene. When I sing to her some of the kids have silent tears run down their cheeks. I cry too, only this time I have Peeta to comfort me. Then they show the announcement that two victors can win if they both come from the same district. When I find Peeta and help him out of the ditch he hid in, I can barely watch him in pain, I've seen it once in reality already and many more times in my dreams. They show how I half guide half carry Peeta to the cave that served as our home in the arena for a while. A few of the kids make the 'oooh' sound when I kiss Peeta for the first time, and after many more kisses they stop. I smile at the kiss that first made an impression on me and so does Peeta, so I'm guessing that the one that first made an impression on me made an impression on him too.

"Why did you kiss so much?" one kid asks us.

"Because that was the only way to get food for us and medicine for Peeta." I say.

"You didn't really love dad?" Rue asks

"Not then, I did it to save him and since he told everyone in the country that he loved me I had to pretend I loved him so that people would help the two 'lovers' get out together."

"They actually called us the star-crossed lovers." Peeta tells them.

"When did you love dad, then?"

"I knew I loved your dad, the way I do now, when we had to go into the next arena with people who had also won the hunger games before."

"Really?" Peeta asks me

"Yes." I say with a small smile.

We continue to watch. When I trick Peeta into eating the sleep syrup, I look at him and he still has that look in his eyes, that I had done something unforgivable. I basically ignore the lead up to the fight during the feast. When the kids see me try to shoot Clove with my bow, they inch away from me. This time there is nothing to hide behind, not a nest to fend off attackers, not revenge because of a young girls death. No this time I made a direct attempt on someone's life. A lot of the kids gasp and flinch when Clove tries to kill me. Some of the children make questioning noises when I call for Peeta.

"Why did you call me, you knew I was too far away to hear you even if I was awake?" Peeta whispers to me.

"I was trying to throw Clove off long enough to do something. It didn't work." I say just as she looks around for Peeta and starts laughing on the screen.

"Mum, is that how you got the scare on your fore head?"

"Yes." I say.

"Oh." Rue trails off.

The class, even Delly scream when Thresh pulls Clove off me when she mentions Rue and smashes her head in with a rock I have to go throw up.

"Peeta, I have to go throw up."

"Ok" He gets up and asks Delly where the bathroom is.

She tells us it is down the hall and to the left, we can't miss it. So I go in and throw up, when we get back so of Rues classmates ask why we left. I tell them I had to throw up and then they ask why. I stand up and put my hands on my abdomen where Chris is and tell them Rue is going to have a brother. A few kids ask if they can touch my 'belly' where the baby is, I have no problem with it but Peeta tells them they have to be very careful, so they don't hurt Chris. We get back to watching the hunger games that Peeta and I were in. By late afternoon we have finished and someone asks why I was banging on the door they took Peeta through.

"Because, I didn't want him to go anywhere without me, I still felt like I had to protect him."

"You look scary there." Says one girl.

"Yes, she does." Peeta says "I didn't know you were that worried, or I would have told you somehow, about my leg."

"I know." I say

"What do you mean, 'about my leg'?" a little boy with brown curly hair asks.

"You know how the; dog thing bit my leg?" he asks "Well I lost too much blood from it and the doctors had to cut off the part of it without much blood."

"Why couldn't you stop the bleeding?"

"We just couldn't, but Katniss stopped more blood flowing into the leg so that stopped me dying, from too much blood coming out of my body." Peeta tells everyone.

At the end of the day Peeta and I take Rue home and ask her if she has any more questions, she tells us she doesn't. Peeta then tells her that if she does she shouldn't be worried to ask us. She goes to her room to play or draw something. Gale asks how everything went and I tell him it was fine, but I threw up when I saw Clove die, again.

I'm a little worried that she is scared of me though she hasn't said anything. Rue is not scared of Peeta, she never will be, and it would take something huge to destroy her image of him as the perfect dad. I hope with every bit of me that she isn't scared of me.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

After a few months Peeta and I have to explain to Rue that the baby will be coming very soon. She doesn't understand why I'm so big and have trouble getting up and down, why I don't eat much and why I walk around with my hands under my huge belly to support the wait of Chris. We have to explain why Peeta and I smile when Chris kicks. I hate that my centre of gravity is off centre and the fact that I know were shirts of Peeta's that are too big for him. One's he has never worn, he had them given to him by his father not long before he died, his father told him that they would fit him when he was much older. The much older part surprises me, Peeta had these given to him not long before the Quarter quell, he had not long turned seventeen. I can't help but smile at the fact that only three years later he asked me to marry him. Then six months after that we decided to have a child, I was so terrified about having her, until I held her, I'm still worried that we will lose her.

"Katniss?" Peeta calls from downstairs, great I have to get up.

I grab the edge of the bed post and yank myself up and waddle down the hall to the stairs. I inch down them hand still resting under my belly.

"Sorry," I call to him "I take a while to get down the stairs."

Peeta comes around the corner to help me, but smiles at the site of my large belly, our baby. I take his hand as I reach the bottom step.

"You were out a while." I point out.

"I went to get a doctor so they can deliver the baby."

"Oh." Is all I say.

The woman in the kitchen is a slit person but wears a look of concentration as she looks me over.

"When is the baby due?" She asks us.

"We don't know, but I think he'll be here soon." I say with a smile.

"Have you had a doctor look over you ?" She asks her voice very firm.

"No." I say sheepishly.

"Well judging by the size of you I'd say the baby is due in a couple days."

"Days?" Peeta asks trying hard not to show the sadness in his eyes.

"Yes."

When she leaves I ask Peeta why he is sad that the baby is coming so soon.

"Because we haven't done much for when the baby comes, we've got his room done and furniture, we've got nappies everything, except clothes."

He's right, how could both of us forget about clothes. I start to cry, silent tears. Peeta raps both his arms me telling me that it's not that bad and he'll go by some in the morning. Knowing Peeta at least remembered we forgot clothes help and the fact that he is going to get some in the morning. It has been hard to sleep with the pain in my back. When I finally do fall asleep I have a dream, Peeta is being held captive by the old Capitol, and I'm in the room that they tortured him. Only I'm in a kind of cell they can't hear me but I can hear Peeta's tortured screams. I shout his name, bash the glass containing me and tell them to stop, I tell them to torture me instead. They don't stop and his screams become mine as I wake.

"Katniss, Katniss, its ok." Peeta reassures me.

"I was there." I mumble into his chest.

"Where?" He asks soothingly.

"In a cell, while you were being tortured, hijacked."

This brings on an attack. It's never happened while I've been in his arms. I'm great full I can help him this close to him. I start to reassure him when his grip on me gets too tight.

"Peeta, let me go, you're hurting me."

I have to push against his arms so he can't hurt the baby. His grip only tightens and I can see the confliction on his face, as he tries to get out of this particularly bad episode. When his grip tightens again I can feel my belly touch him, I pull back.

"Peeta," I feel the tears rush down my cheeks "Please stop, you're going to hurt the baby."

He doesn't seem to register. I can feel that my belly is pressing very close to being too tight.

"PEETA, please, you're going to hurt Chris." His grip loosens and I don't know if he is coming out of it or not, so I move away enough that he can't hurt the baby.

Peeta comes out of it and sees me crying and covering my belly. His eyes widen in worry.

"What happened, what I did I do?" he whispers.

"You…. I…. You're grip on me was too tight and you were crushing me." I don't want to tell him he nearly hurt our unborn son.

"But I did more." He gestures over to me curled protectively over my belly.

"Peeta,"

"Tell me, please."

"I couldn't re-position myself so that you didn't hurt the baby."

"I hurt him?" he asks inching over slightly with his hand extended.

"No, I told you, you were hurting me, but you didn't respond so I tried to keep my stomach away from you so he didn't get hurt. I couldn't so I told you, that you were going to the baby and you only tighten your grip, I started to cry and I yelled your name and said you're going to hurt Chris. Then you stopped when you heard his name."

"I'm sorry." He says "I sleep on the couch so I don't hurt you."

"No, Peeta why do you think you need to do that?"

He lazily raises his hand to gesture at me "Look at you."

I'm still hunched over my belly, I uncurl my legs and crawl over the bed and step off it in front of Peeta on unsteady legs. I stretch my arms around him as far as I can with the baby in the way.

"It's not your fault." I relies he hasn't returned my hug "Peeta would you actually hug me back, I feel useless when you don't."

He does as I feel a gush of water run down my legs. I didn't bother to put on my night pants so Peeta notices to.

"What was that?" He asks raises his eyebrows.

"The baby." I say, he doesn't get it "Peeta, the baby is coming."

"Really?"

"No Peeta I peed myself and was just trying to cover it up." I say sarcastically.

"Lie down and I tell Haymitch to get the doctor."

He goes to leave.

"Peeta, number one, you kind of need a shirt, without holes in it and number two I don't want Rue to hear me when it gets bad."

"Right." He throws of his shirt and stuffs another one on.

"Where do I take Rue?"

I hadn't thought of that especially considering the time of night it is.

"Is Haymitch's house clean?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, ask him to take her somewhere other than his house or ours."

"Ok."

I have a small contraction and hear Peeta gently wake Rue and tell her that the baby is coming and she has to go. Her small voice replies asking why and where she is going and if she can say goodbye to me. Peeta comes in with her and as she runs to the bed he tells her not to jump on it.

"Mummy, is the baby really coming?"

"Yes, so I need you to go with daddy ok."

"Ok" she says and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

By the time Peeta is back with the doctor the contractions are much closer and so much more painful. Peeta takes my hand and I squeeze it tightly as the doctor whose name is Sarah has a look to see how close the baby is to arriving. She tells us that we should have called her sooner because she has missed most of the labour and were almost ready for the baby to arrive. I breathe and moan and snap at her and Peeta during the birth. I clench my teeth when each contraction comes and when the head comes out she smiles and tells us he is almost here. I push as hard as I can to get my son out. When he finally arrives and Sarah cuts the cord she hands him over to me.

"Peeta, look, my eyes, your hair." I laugh; Rue has my hair and Peeta's eyes.

"Yes," he smiles "Chris, suits him."

"I know."

I look at his small red slippery body and the soft tuft of hair he has, blonde. I look at his eyes and they reflect my own in them. I hand him to Peeta, he coos over our son and smiles widely.

"Sarah, can you go can Rue for us please, I'm sure she would love to meet her little brother. "

"Yes, where is she?"

I look to Peeta.

"She is at the bakery with Haymitch."

Sarah leaves.

"The bakery?"

"It was the only place I could think of at the time."

"Ok." I smile and look at Chris who already loves Peeta; he's cuddles into him as he gurgles.

When Rue comes inside the door she can't see Chris because Peeta is facing me with Chris cradled in his arms.

"Where is he?" she asks.

"Over here." I say looking down at him.

Rue crawls onto the bed and over me to look at him.

"He's red!" She says matter-of-factly.

"That's because he hasn't had a bath yet." I tell her.

"Why not?"

"He was just born and we wanted to look at him first." Peeta tells her.

"So, is his name Chris still?" She asks

"Yes."

"Mum, Dad, um; can I hold him?"

"Yes." I say again

"Come up here and sit in between us." Peeta tells her.

She does as she is asked and Peeta puts Chris in her arms and he waves his chubby little arm in jerk like motions at her. When he pulls her hair she pulls his hand out of her hair and says "No, You don't pull hair!"

"Rue, don't yell at him, he doesn't know not to do that yet, he will just touch everything he thinks is pretty or colourful." Peeta tells her firmly. That's the last thing I hear before I doze off, exhaustion getting the better of me.

When I wake up in the morning I hear crying. I get up and dressed and head down stairs to find out why Chris is crying. Peeta is trying to sooth him, but he can't.

"I don't know what to do I've tried everything." He says worry lines forming on his forehead,

"Did you think that maybe he's hungry?" I ask sarcastically, though Peeta doesn't pick up on it.

He passes Chris over and I unhook my shirt and bra, for him, he suckles hungrily.

"Where's Rue?" I ask.

"School."

"It's a school day?"

"Yes, holidays are over."

"Oh."

Peeta and I play with Chris and start baby proofing the house. When Chris is a month old he isn't so fat anymore, and he starts saying syllables and he gurgles more. We get back into the shaky schedule we had when Rue was a baby. The endless amount of nappies this child needs is unbelievable. I hunt every day, not for very long, because I need to get home to feed Chris. Peeta looks after him while I hunt. On weekends I take Rue, Chris and Peeta to the lake. Peeta splashes around the lake with Rue. I take Chris in with me and hold him in the water. I just support him so he doesn't sink, but he splashes in those jerky movements babies do. Chris likes the lake almost as much as the rest of us, he's very much a water baby, he likes to swim, and play with Katniss roots I pull from the bed of the lake. On warm days we all lie on the edge of the lake to let the sun dry us, though I try not to leave Chris under direct sunlight for too long. Rue goes on play dates sometimes with her friend Carrie, when she gets home that is all we hear about. She loves to play with her little brother; she is a very good older sister. We continue like this throughout the year. When Chris's first birthday comes around we are all very excited. Peeta buys him a very fat, very squashy teddy bear, that he doesn't let go off all day. He likes to play with pretty things that dangle so I made him a wind chime. He's a very happy baby. We're a very happy family.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

(Nine years later)

Peeta, Rue, Chris and I have had a fantastic past nine years. Rue is fifteen now and Chris is nine. I was right, Chris is a fast runner, but at the moment he's not very good with a bow, though Rue is. And though we have been fantastic, I have been vomiting a lot of recent, most of the time actually. I wonder…

"Katniss?" Peeta's voice brings me back to reality.

"Yes?" I ask hesitantly.

"Rue's coming home, with Chris," I must look like I don't get it, "She brings him home every day, when they finish school."

"Yeah, I know what about it?"

"She's on the path to the Victors village, that spot we can see her from, she looks a little worried or something."

"Oh, we can ask her about it." I suggest.

"Ok"

We wait in silence for Rue and Chris to walk through the door. I'm expecting the usual soft opening of the door and Rue telling Chris not to be so loud but that doesn't happen. Rue pushes the door open hard and let's Chris babble on about his day and something about being a tree.

"MUM, DAD!"

There was no need to yell we're always in the kitchen (the front door leads to the kitchen).

"There's no need for the attitude Rue; what is it?"

"You never told me what the Hunger Games were!"

What? We did tell her we were in the games.

"Rue, we did tell you, we were in them, and there was a girl called Rue, who you were named after." Peeta says with an even voice.

"Yes, you told me you were in the games, but you didn't tell me what you had to do in them."

Finally I speak "You saw our games, you saw what we did, you saw all those kids die and you saw me kill people, you saw that. As horrible as it is you saw that, in prep."

"I thought that was a TV show- and I don't mean a live televised fight to the death I mean a fictional show."

"What? We even answered all the questions you and your class had, how could you think that was a fictional TV show?

"I WAS SIX!" she screams.

"That has nothing to do with it." Peeta says, how is he keeping his voice level?

"The teacher told all of us it was a TV show, so we thought it was fake." Rue says with a little defeat in her voice.

"Oh." Both Peeta and I say in unison.

You can feel the tension in the room, hear every breath, and smell the tense movements of every person in the room.

"So what exactly were the Hunger Games? Did you really have to do what you did in that video?"

"Maybe we should get, Chris to stay in his room for a while." I say.

"No, we'll have to have this conversation, the proper conversation to tell them what we had to do, with him as well"

"Ok" I sigh "sit down"

Rue and Chris sit down and I look to Peeta to start.

"The hunger games started because of the dark days, a rebellion gone wrong. Every year as a reminder to the rebels that the Capitol was in power they forced every district to provide two tributes, one boy and one girl. On the 74th Hunger Games the girl who was called-"

"Was Mum, yeah next." Rue interrupts.

"No, it was your Mum's sister, Prim. "

"What? Mum you have a sister?"

I fight back the lump in my throat that's building "I _had _a sister, she died in the rebellion- not the one that caused the Hunger Games, obviously, but the one we caused. Anyway, I volunteered for her so that she wouldn't die in the games, so I had to go up onto the stage that had been put up in front of the Justice building. Then they called the boy tribute, Your Dad."

"Your Mum and I got to say goodbye to our friends and family, then we got taken to a train. That train took us to the Capitol. We had some training before the games, an interview the night before the games and then we had to go into the arena. We went different ways and eventually met up after the game makers- there the people who make the rules for the games- said that two tributes could win so long as they both originated from the same district. It turned out that they lied, so when it was just the two of us left they told us we had to kill each other. I had been bitten by a; type of dog, so I was going to die first if I wasn't treated. Your Mum wouldn't have it."

"I pulled out a bag of poison berries for your Dad and I to eat so that neither of us won, I wasn't going to go home without him and your Dad wasn't going to kill me or let me kill myself. The game makers had to have a victor so they let both of us win."

After both Peeta and I explain the games briefly, something occurs to me; why did Rue want to know this all of a sudden.

"Rue," I say after a while of silence "Why did you ask about it all of a sudden?"

"Because our teachers told us that the president has an announcement to make about a resignation and that the soon to be new president has an announcement to make related to the Hunger Games."

My heart starts to thud louder in my head. What, we going to have a new president? The new president has an announcement to make about the Hunger Games? What if they start again? No, no they won't, we stopped the games, it can't come again, that's the whole reason I didn't want to have children- not that I regret it.

"Mum?" Chris asks.

I notice that I have tears streaming down my face; Peeta is sitting closer to me with his arm around me, saying soothing words I can't hear.

"Y-yes?"

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"It's just remembering the game is hard for me, I miss Rue- the one in the hunger games with us, and I miss my sister."

It's not a lie, but it's not the reason I'm crying now, and one look at Peeta tells me he knows it's not the full truth. After Rue and Chris leave, Peeta asks me what the real problem is.

"I'm just worried that the soon to be new president- as Rue put it- might start the Hunger Games again. This is why I didn't want to have kids!"

"That's not going to happen, we won the rebellion, you know that, Snow's dead, and so is Coin. There wasn't even a Games for the children of the Capitol. And, what? You're not happy that we have Rue and Chris?"

"No, I am happy we have them, but this was the reason I didn't want kids when we were teenagers."

"We were Teenagers, that's the point teenagers make stupid decisions."

"Not every decision we made was stupid, I didn't want kids while the games were one, because I didn't want people to live through the fear of losing your friends or family or having to go in yourself; and going into the games only made me feel stronger about it, what if the games come again?"

"They won't."

"Can you promise that? Can you promise that that will never happen no matter what, without a doubt?"

"Well, no. It might happen again, but not for a while."

We have an argument about this for a while, when I decide to go upstairs until the announcement comes on. After about an hour the TV makes a loud beeping noise which means that it's compulsory to watch. Peeta is already at the base of the stairs waiting for me, I can see from the look in those eyes I've come to know so well that he's worried about me and is going to stick with me through this whole broadcast. We walk over to the couch, take a seat and wait for Rue and Chris. There with us in a matter of minutes, then as if on cue the announcer comes onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentleman," she says in her dilute Capitol accent "there is an announcement to be made, please welcome President Paylor."

The people in the Capitol centre square cheer.

"Citizens of Panem, I regret to inform you that I will be retiring, I have been the president since our very own Mockingjay, lead us to victory in the rebellion. There is one more surprise that is to come from my successor, though I myself do not know who that will be or what their surprise is, thank you for being supportive of my decisions as president."

I'm just starting to wonder how they have this organized if they don't know who the next president it, when a young woman with white-blonde hair walks up to the microphone.

"Katniss," Peeta whispers to me, very close to my ear "Isn't that Snow's granddaughter?"

I stiffen at his words, if that's Snow's granddaughter, then maybe she will re-start the Hunger Game.

"My name is Cornelia," she pauses for dramatic effect "My mother was Aemilia, the daughter of Coriolanus Snow. I am the granddaughter of the very man you overthrew. To you I will be known as President Cornelia Snow."

What? She is Snow's granddaughter.

"Now, many of you will be on the edge of your seats wondering what my surprise is. Well I want to know how my grandfather felt watching the Hunger Games, so I a reaping will be held once more, after this Hunger Games, I may choose to continue them once again."

WHAT? NO. .NO.

"Peeta…" I say tears have sprung into my eyes, threatening to spill.

"Now my people don't fret, as the last Hunger Games were interrupted, we will be reaping those who were in those particular games. Now many of the tributes died, both in and outside of those games. So to make it interesting I will have the living tributes reaped and there whole family, their husbands or wives and their children no matter the age of their offspring."

"What? Peeta, what? We can't go in again, especially with our children." I say between sobs.

"But there is one more thing I must mention, well actually two more things. Number one, if say your spouse was in the games, they died and you have had their child, well you must go in with your child or children. Number two, the living relatives of one family may come out together if every member of every other family is dead."

"PEETA! ANNIE AND NICK!"

Peeta nods, unable to speak, but I can see the fear in his eyes.

"The reaping will be held tomorrow."

And that's it the television has turned itself of and we're left sitting in front of it, stunned.

Finally Rue speaks up "Mum, Dad, you said that what happened in your games is how every other one went, other than the part were two people won."

We nod. "Then that's what will happen in our games, because we have to go in right?"

It's too hard to talk, even though I know my children need me to, my throat has closed off and I can only stare at my family in horror, I'm going back into the arena, again, only this time I have to go in with my children and Peeta and I are married. I look to Peeta begging him to be able to speak.

"Yes, that's what it will be like, and yes, we will be going in."

The next day, I'm dead tired; I slept better before the reaping when I was a kid. I suppose this time I don't just have to worry about Prim and I, now I have to worry about Peeta, Rue, and Chris. Won't this new President Snow find it funny that yet another girl called Rue will be going into the Hunger Games. We leave for the square at one o'clock, like Peeta and I did when we were children. On the way I throw up, again, what's wrong with me? As we walk in silence linked by only our hands I start to think about why I've been vomiting. Peeta and I had s…. and I've been throwing up since then, and I haven't had much of an appetite and I feel sick constantly. NO. I can't be, if it weren't for the games then I would be so happy, but, I can't be. But I know in my heart and in my head that it's true. I'm Pregnant. I stop suddenly, let go of Peeta's hand and put it on my belly. _I will protect you. _ I think to my abdomen.

"What's wrong?" Peeta asks me.

"N-nothing, I – just had a thought."

He eyes me suspiciously but starts walking again, if were late who knows what will happen. I let my mind go blank until we reach the square.

Once we are in the roped of section I see that there's another, for Haymitch, and apparently Peeta. Just like the quarter quell. Our kids just have to wait. If I weren't the only female victor then my kids may have had a chance not to go in.

A women who I have never seen anywhere in my life walks onto the stage, and says that she will be picking the boys first, she corrects herself and says men.

"Peeta Mellark"

That's it I am by default going in, but of course they still need to read out my name.

"The female tribute is; Katniss Mellark."

Peeta and I lead Rue, Chris and- not that Peeta knows, our unborn child to the very stage we never wanted them to step on.


End file.
